Vic LoBue Jr. says no one had to tell him he was getting close to a record at the CareerBuilder Challenge.

"No one really did, but I thought about it myself," LoBue said Friday, a day after he set the tournament's all-time record for appearances with his 47th start in the event. "But no one ever came up and said anything about it."

But with the record on his mind, LoBue did hear from a few people associated with the tournament about keeping his chance at the record going.

"Clarke Rheney here with the tournament a couple of three years ago said, 'stay healthy, we'll keep you going,'" LoBue said.

LoBue is more than just an amateur player in the event. He is also a board member of the tournament, and his father, Vic LoBue Sr., was also a board member.

The younger LoBue is now 76, and with his 47th start breaks the record of Jim Crooker, who played in the event 46 years and famously broke the tournament's all-time record set by Arnold Palmer at 42 years.

"Unfortunately Jim passed, and that put me in a position to move forward," LoBue said.

LoBue long ago passed his own father for appearances in the tournament. LoBue Sr. played in the tournament 41 years. Only LoBue Jr. and Crooker have played in the event more times. But this year, Pontjo Sutowo matched the elder LoBue's mark of 41 years in the tournament.

LoBue Jr. has not played in the tournament 47 consecutive years, just 47 years overall. His run in the event began in 1967.

"I missed 1968, then I played continuously from 1969 probably through 1994 or 1995," LoBue said. "Then I missed a couple and then I played a couple here or there to get to 47."

LoBue has also easily outdistanced any of the celebrities who played in the first five decades of the tournament. Bob Hope played in the most events as a celebrity, of course, at 38 years. In many of the early years of Hope's association with the tournament, starting in 1965, LoBue Jr. would substitute for Hope when the comedian couldn't get to the desert for a day or two of the event.

Singer Andy Williams, who had a home at La Quinta Country Club, played in 32 tournaments, while Glen Campbell played in 29 events. Both Williams and Campbell had their own PGA Tour events, Williams in San Diego and Campbell in Los Angeles.

One thing LoBue never did in the tournament was play in the same group with his father.

"I've played all these years and never won it, and he won it twice," the younger LoBue joked.

LoBue has been around the tournament long enough to have seen plenty of changes in the event, and that includes changes for the amateurs.

"The most obvious was the change from the four-day tournament with the Wednesday start and now it's a three-day tournament," LoBue said. "And at the same time we did that we went from about 375 amateurs to 156. It makes it actually a little more fun because you can interact with the pros a little more without three or four or five guys around."

LoBue has never won the tournament's pro-am title, but he has plenty of memories in the event,

"I got to play with Nick Price one year and it was just great to watch him hit the ball, the violence with the way he hit the ball," LoBue said. "I liked that, because he was a real nice guy. Trevino of course was wonderful. I had the honor to play with Mr. Palmer several times."